Bengazi Report Part of Cover-up

The Bengazi mystery boils down to one key question: On what basis did Hillary, Susan Rice and the president camouflage the terrorist attack on our consulate as an over-reaction to a film about Muhammed?

The blue ribbon commission charged with investigating the attack not only has provided no answer to this question, it perpetuated a cover-up by distracting attention from the main issue to side matters.

We understand that there was a lack of security at the consulate. We get it that it was foolish to rely on Libyan troops or police to protect our people. We already know that warnings of an impending attack were ignored. We have gathered that Ambassador Stevens might have been more forceful in requesting security. We know all that.

But we don’t know on what basis the top officials in our country pretended the attack was something it was not and refused to acknowledge what it was — a terror attack on the anniversary of 9/11.

All the report does is to further beg this question by noting that the raid was never anything but a terror attack. There was never, according to its findings, the remotest reason to ascribe it to a civil demonstration turned violent. But, in the middle of an election campaign, the president, the woman who wants to be the next president, and our U.N. Ambassador lied and told us that the attack was a reaction to a film. How was the decision made to have the president go before the United Nations and discuss the importance of respect for one another’s religion in the same breath as he commented on the attack? What was the anatomy and evolution of this lie?

The administration’s desire to throw us off the trail and cover-up the terror attack ranks up there with British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s attempt to “sex up” Saddam Hussein’s supposed ability to hit Britain with WMDs prior to the Iraq invasion.

One wonders at the severity of Hillary Clinton’s conveniently timed illness and her unfortunate inability to testify. But the State Department report makes it even more urgent that she be summoned to testify when she recovers, even if the testimony comes after she has left office. The offense of lying to the American people and the world about so important an issue must be examined and the proper blame allocated to the public officials involved.

But there will be a temptation on Capitol Hill to drop the inquiry after the Hillary-less hearing. We must not let them do so! Don’t let her off the hook.